2007.09.01
The New Space Race
In case you’ve been asleep these past several years (decades?), the space race never ended and pressure is building right now as countries that were in no position 30 years ago to compete with America and, at that time, Russia continue to strive outwards. In 1969 America put a man on the moon which should have heralded a period of instant human dominance of space. Instead we pulled back. While America is still the strongest player in human forays into space there are plenty of players coming on strong. China, India, Japan, Europe and Russia are all pressing on while I get the impression America, despite its considerable successes, is losing its ambition. All the plans and rhetoric in the world won’t amount to squat if we don’t actually do something.
I have made no secret of the fact that I think getting humanity out in space and beyond the confines of Earth is a mandatory goal for the survival of the human species. Afterall, all it would take is an asteroid or two to kill us off. Further, I think it’s important to define the culture that will prevail as we push out. Will it be a culture that supresses its people (China, Russia) or one that believes in freedom and human dignity (America, Europe and a few others)?
Russia has just announced its intentions of building a permanent lunar base. They join China, India, Japan and others. Russia has been recently flexing its muscles and China recently successfully shot down a satellite. Combined with these country’s remarkable lack of human rights, clean democracies and abundance of crime and need to prove themselves on the world stage, I worry about them gaining a permanent foothold in space.
I know it seems possibly paranoid on my part to worry about these things, but once a nation dominates space, that nation’s culture will dominate the future of humanity simply by spreading their culture to new environments and worlds. Further, depending on their priorities, once established in space it would be almost trivial to prevent other nations from attaining a foothold in space through military actions. Ultimately I care about the survival of humanity beyond natural (ie. asteroid impact, etc) and human destruction (ie. global warming, resource depletion, catastrophic war, etc) of this world I also worry about the future culture of the human species. I think you should to. If it were possible to make space truly international I would be for this. Any student of history will see the difficulty (amounting to impossibility) of this ultimate dream despite best efforts. So in the meantime I choose us.
Other interesting articles I found while scouring for links in this post… A nice summary of the China/Japan space rivalry. Another article about China… Since America shut down their application to join the International Space Station they’ve decided to build their own. India and Japan plan on getting to the Moon and building lunar bases (which space faring country isn’t?). Finally, an interesting editorial ruminating on many things I touch upon above, but with wider perspective.
5 Comments Categorized: political science technology
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5 Responses to “The New Space Race”
- NHK says (September 3rd, 2007 at 12:34:12 )
Personally, I don’t think it’s ethical to spend money on a space program while we have people starving in the streets here in America. Other countries have more pressing issues as well, in my opinion. The human race has lots to do here on Earth before they should even consider colonizing space. That said, lots of people disagree with me…
Anyway, if Americans feel they must spend money on the “space race” I can only hope they hook up with other countries and make a joint effort so as to spread out the cost and avoid a monoculture.
- NHK says (September 3rd, 2007 at 15:57:36 )
Personally, I don’t think it’s ethical to spend money on a space program when we have people starving in the streets here in America. Other countries have more pressing issues as well, in my opinion. The human race has lots to do here on Earth before it should even consider colonizing space. That said, lots of people disagree with me…
Anyway, if Americans feel they must spend money on the “space raceâ€, I can only hope they hook-up with other countries and make a joint effort so as to spread out the cost and avoid a monoculture.
- douglas says (September 3rd, 2007 at 17:20:05 )
Yes, there are many things that need doing here on Earth for the people we have. However, this is just a matter of priority. The problem is that there isn’t enough incentive to help the people who are starving. The War on Poverty was lost as soon as no one could make money at it. I’m not saying I agree with it, but from what I can discern this is a fact.
And yes, I hope that we can hook up with other nations, and that ideally the inevitable colonization of space will be multi-cultural. I just don’t know if that will happen with some of our more xenophobic neighbors.
- NHK says (September 3rd, 2007 at 20:41:23 )
Doug,
As usual, your cynicism comes in concentrated burts, like distilled tetrodotoxin. Actually, I do see the pragmatic angle here, but I can’t *quite* stomach it this time around. Maybe grudgingly if large sums of money weren’t at stake…but they are.
Yes, money and greed determine priorities for our government and countless others; that doesn’t mean we have to endorse said prioritization. You like the idea of humankind in space? Great, so do I. But I think it’s idiotic to spend energy and money on that (dubiously) lofty goal given the mess this over-populated planet has become. I mean, really, it’s laughable and reprehensible all at once. We thump the daylights out of our own planet and mis-treat our fellow humans in the name of (insert your favorite faith, political party or commodity here) on a daily basis and now we want to take that show on the road at obscene expense? Sorry, but ideologically (!), I will not stand behind that.
Or, put more succinctly, Do Not Want.
- douglas.nerad » Dubious of Space? says (September 3rd, 2007 at 22:44:43 )
[...] was going to put this in the comments of this article in response to some of NHK’s comments. Instead, as it got long, I decided to put it up here [...]
